This was a bad week for big movies, with not a single first run release is even worth rating a solid purchase, never mind being a contender for DVD Pick of the Week. There were a few other contenders for the title, including Dirty Harry Collection on DVD or Blu-ray. However, I found it impossible to decide which format was the better deal. Had the Blu-ray provided anything more than High Definition, or been a more reasonable price compared to the DVD, it would have been an easier choice. One of them is the DVD Pick of the Week, I just don't know which one. On a side note, there is an immense flood of Blu-ray releases, including a few I thought were coming out previously.
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There was a strong contingent of new releases this week, but it was a holdover that took top spot. Ghost Rider fell nearly 25%, but its weekly haul of $6.67 million was still enough to remain in first place while its two week total hit $15.53 million.
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Ghost Rider led this week's contingent of new releases capturing first place with $8.86 million. That wasn't a whole lot compared it its theatrical run, but it was a better one week total that the home market has been able to produce for a while.
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Even though new releases were able to take the top two spots on the rental and sales charts this week, it won't be remember fondly for their strength. In fact, Notbit's winning tally of $4.65 million was the lowest weekly total for any number one rental this year and wouldn't have been enough to reach the top five half the time.
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It's the first week of the month, which is oftentimes the busiest time for DVD releases.
However, while there are plenty of releases this week, there are not that many that are top quality (and no spotlight reviews).
The DVD Pick of the Week is Seinfeld - Season 8, but there's little surprise there.
I would also recommend picking up The Dead Zone - The Complete Fifth Season and The Sergio LeoneAnthology.
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Sunshine climbed into sixth place with $5.20 million on 1866 screens in 30 markets for a total of $10.20 million. However, while it nearly doubled last week's opening, this was entirely due to the film's expansion. Its biggest market of the weekend was France where it placed fourth with $1.36 million on 339 screens while it placed eighth in its debut in Australia with just $611,000 on 161 screens. On the other hand, the film only managed $508,000 on 192 screens during its debut in Japan and while likely see a sharp drop-off next weekend given its weak per screen average. Meanwhile in the U.K. the film suffered the worst week-to-week drop-off in the top ten down 57% to $879,000 on 409 screens over the weekend and a total of $4.45 million in total.
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Wild Hogs had its best performance of its run so far climbing into sixth place with $3.33 million on 817 screens in 8 markets for a total of $18.43 million after a month of release. About half of that came from the film's number one debut in Mexico where it earned $1.33 million on 355 screens over the weekend and $1.67 million including previews while the film did reasonable business in Taiwan with $345,000 on 40. Its best market to date has been Australia where the film has earned $11.30 million, including $907,000 on 263 screens this past weekend.
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Norbit saw its weekend haul sliced neatly in half landing in sixth place with $4.09 million on 2270 screens in 39 markets for a total of $49.38 million. The film wasn't able to crack $1 million in any single market, but Italy came the closest with $940,000 on 263 screens for a two-week total of $3.19 million.
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300 was miles ahead of its nearest competition and dominated the international box office with $48.21 million on 4,435 screens in 32 markets for a total of $79.35 million.
The film opened in first place in a number of key markets including the U.K. where it took in $9.30 million on 369 screens while it was just as dominant in Spain with $6.71 million on 536 screens. Other multi-million dollar openings came in France ($5.6 million on 485 screens); Russia ($5.05 million on 417); Italy ($4.58 million on 459); and Mexico ($2.56 million on 526).
The film also held strong in holdovers remaining in first place for the second weekend in a row in South Korea with $3.67 million on 350 screens over the weekend and $12.68 million in total while it topped the Greek market for the third weekend in a row with $1.3 million for a total of $9.4 million.
In that latter market, 300 is now the fifth highest grossing film of all time.
The film has peaked at the box office, but should still have a very strong month before the summer blockbusters start opening.
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It was a good week for international releases with a dozen of them charting, although none made it into the top five.
The number one film was 300 as the film expanded into its first major market, scoring first place with $6.3 million on 353 screens over a 5-day period.
The film was also a massive hit in Turkey with $1.5 million on 115 screens while just missing the $1 million mark in Thailand with $917,000 on 120 screens.
Other openings include $730,000 on 33 screens in Hong Kong, $582,000 on 161 screens in India and $546,000 on 73 in Puerto Rico.
Even more impressive were its holdovers, with it remaining in first place in all three, including a record-setting pace in Greece ($2.5 million for the weekend and $7.2 million in total).
Overall, the film made $14.17 million on 1,262 screens in 12 markets for a very early international total of $25.23 screens.
It's too early to tell if the film will be as big a hit internationally as it is domestically, but it is off to a great start.
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It was a soft weekend in international markets, with no film topping $10 million.
Music and Lyrics was the closest, pulling in $9.67 million on 2,542 screens in 26 markets for a total of $44.45 million, which is just ahead of its domestic total so far.
Its biggest opening of the weekend came in Germany where it placed first with $3.12 million on 606 screens but it also placed first in Austria ($511,000 on 92 screens), and The Netherlands ($494,000 on 95 screens over the weekend and $637,000 in total).
The film wasn't as strong in Mexico where it made $678,000 on 319 screens, which was a distant second to a local hit, Ninas Mal.
Holdovers were led by South Korea, where is actually grew by 4% to $1.29 million on 136 screens for a two-week total of $3.96 million.
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Music and Lyrics remained in sixth place with $5.64 million on 1645 screens in 18 markets for a total of $32.01 million internationally. The film disappointed domestically, but it appears to be making up for that softness on the international scene. The film's best opening of the weekend came from South Korea where it placed second with $2.06 million on 144 screens while it also grabbed second place in Brazil with $490,000 on 140. Holdovers were led by the U.K. where the film earned $1.09 million on 364 screens during its fourth week of release for a total of $15.71 million in that market alone. That's close to a $100 million run here, taking into account the relative sizes of the two markets.
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Practically every new release missed expectations this weekend, some by small margins while others were significantly off the mark. On the other hand, holdovers held as well as expected, which helped the box office total reach $117 million.
This was a 25% drop-off from last weekend; however, that can be explained by the holiday last weekend and the Oscars this weekend.
Year-to-year the drop-off was a much more reasonable 3%.
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It was a record-breaking President's Day weekend as 2007 produced it first blockbuster.
Overall, total box office hit $158 million from Friday to Sunday, $188 million including Monday.
That 3-day figure represents a 40% increase over last week and 22% over the same weekend last year.
In addition, the 4-day portion was 20% higher than last year.
This is great news for a year that hasn't gotten off to a fast start.
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It's President's Day today and that can only mean one thing, millions of Americans are celebrating by cutting down cherry trees and lying about it. I think. Truth be told, I'm not exactly sure what people do to celebrate President's Day. But I do know it will cause a slight delay in a couple of weekly columns. For instance, the weekend wrap-up and the per theatre charts will both be pushed back one day while the DVD Release column will be a bit late. It might still be published late today, but it might not come out till sometime after midnight. In the meantime, here are the studio estimates for the weekend numbers...
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Ghost Rider made a fiery box office debut this weekend, according to studio estimates released on Sunday.
Its $44.5 million opening makes it the new record holder for the best President's Day opening weekend, and if the estimate holds, it will record the 3rd-best February weekend (see Best February weekends).
The opening was considerably ahead of most predictions, and the weekend as a whole looks very healthy.
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Now that romance is out of the way, we have a big-budget action flick looking to take advantage of Presidents' Day long weekend to score the biggest opening of the year so far.
But Ghost Rider isn't the only new release this weekend; along with the two romantic comedies that opened on Wednesday, there are three films opening wide, or at least wide-ish, this Friday.
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Discussion about the Best Foreign LanguageOscar has so far been dominated by Pan's Labyrinth, but this weekend The Lives of Others made the case that it shouldn't be ignored.
The film opened with more than $200,000 in 13 theaters for an average of $16,430.
It is still a long shot to expand beyond 100 theaters, but this is a good beginning.
In second place was the overall box office leader, Norbit, which pulled in an average of $10,904 in more than 3,000 theaters, much to the chagrin of movie critics everywhere.
Finally, last week's winner, Factory Girl placed third, earning an average of $10,872 in its 18 theaters.
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It was a predictable weekend at the box office, with the top five finishing in the exact order predicted and even though a few films beat predictions, none were wildly outside expectations.
Overall, box office receipts hit $112 million, which was 22% higher than last weekend.
But that was 7% lower than the same weekend last year.
However, while the dollars were flowing, the critics were complaining, again.
Six weeks into the month and we've only had one wide film that has impressed the majority of critics.
That should change by Friday with two new releases that look promising.
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Still waiting sites for the big summer blockbusters to come online. In the meantime, this week is relatively busy, but with only a couple sites that look like they could be award-worthy once the features are added. The best of the best, and I use that term loosely, is Norbit - Official Site with a site that could be more entertaining than the movie it promotes.
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Two movies featuring characters with eating disorders open this weekend but there's a clear favorite, at least at the box office. Critically speaking, both are dogs, which is not surprising since we haven't seen a film open to even moderately good reviews since Freedom Writers earned 67% positive during the first weekend of the year.
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February is the shortest month of the year, but not the slowest at the box office. It doesn't have the stigma of being a dumping ground, and with Valentine's Day fitting nicely in the middle, romantic comedies have a leg up at the box office. However, for the most part, movies released during this month are aiming for midlevel hit and there are few, if any, that will become blockbusters.
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Another slow week, but its been that way for a while. I'm hoping that will change when the summer blockbusters start launching their full sites soon, in fact, Spider-Man 3's Official Site did go live this week, but it is mostly marked coming soon and too soon to give it the award just yet.
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Good week for websites, but most were smaller updates or new sites with just a few features. Two sites, Happy Feet - Official Site and The Prestige - Official Site, stood out above the crowd, but both will need a few more update to take home the Weekly Website Award.
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The shaded area represents the expected performance range for a film, based on its opening weekend box office. 95% of films fall within the shaded area. If a film trends towards the top end of the shaded area, it has good legs compared to the average film; if it trends towards the bottom end of the shaded area, it has poor legs. The predictive area is based on movies from the past 5 years.

Full financial estimates for this film, including domestic and international box office, video sales, video rentals, TV and ancillary revenue
are available through our research services. For more information, please contact us at research@the-numbers.com.